3 min readNew DelhiUpdated: Jul 31, 2014 02:07 PM IST
Bollywood stars may be turning to television in a big way but producer Ashwini Yardi believes they cannot create the same magic in daily soaps.
Bollywood stars may be turning to television in a big way but producer Ashwini Yardi believes they cannot create the same magic in daily soaps.
Ashwini, who is making a comeback to TV with new fiction ‘Jamai Raja’ following a successful stint in films, said the daily soaps on small screen are more content driven and actors are relatable.
“People have a different perception of a TV actor and a Bollywood star. Audience identify more with TV actors but at the same time when they watch Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan and Akshay Kumar they feel they are the heroes who are larger-than-life. So, Bollywood stars are not meant for TV.
“In film, a hero should be more aspirational and on TV they should be more relatable. If such people come to your TV set then it will not be aspirational anymore,” Ashwini told PTI.
Actors like Karisma Kapoor, Raveena Tandon and Poonam Dhillon could not strike a chord with the audience with their daily soaps. Amitabh Bachchan’s fiction debut ‘Yudh’ too received a lukewarm response from the people even though the megastar continues to be a ratings puller when it comes to his reality show ‘Kaun Banega Crorepati’.
Ashwini along with business partner Akshay Kumar has come up with their first TV venture ‘Jamai Raja’ under the banner Grazing Goats Pictures. The duo is behind big screen hits including ‘Oh My God!’, ‘Boss’ and ‘Fugly’.
“‘Jamai Raja’ is just a concept that we thought is very fresh for TV. TV soap has not explored a relationship through a man’s perspective where a man is actually playing a dominating part,” said Aswini.
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In these two decades, Ashwini feels that satellite TV has gone through a sea change in terms of content and characters.
“In early 90s serials made for the cable TV were for affluent societies because only high class could afford it. Even the characters, especially women also portrayed the sentiments of the elite class.
“But with digitalisation, cable has become affordable and even the shows have started catering to the common man. Now, they are less on drama and more on the realistic side,” she said.
The female producer, who is not a TV buff, left the small screen and shifted to films with Akshay starrer 2012 hit ‘Oh my God!’, which was an adaptation of a Gujarati play. “New concepts always excite me. The reason I left TV is the script of ‘Oh My God’. It was so different that it excited
me. It’s not that I have planned and make TV shows. It comes my way and if I like I take it,” Ashwini said.
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She is all geared up for her debut big-budget release ‘Singh is Bling’, being directed by Prabhudeva and starring Akshay in the lead. It is expected to hit theatres July 31, 2015.
Bollywood stars may be turning to television in a big way but producer Ashwini Yardi believes they cannot create the same magic in daily soaps.